


Wisdom, Justice, Magic?

by Joculari



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - Various Authors, Dragon Age II, Kate Daniels - Ilona Andrews
Genre: Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, F/M, Gen, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-06
Updated: 2016-04-17
Packaged: 2018-03-29 09:15:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 8,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3890830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joculari/pseuds/Joculari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Hawke uses an experimental spell as a last resort, she and Fenris are both transported to an alternate universe, badly wounded, in need of help, and with no way to get back to Thedas. Magic is different there, and everybody keeps trying to figure out if Fenris is "Beastkin" or not. </p>
<p>Curran and Kate have been enjoying life with Atlanta back to a relatively quiet state. But then two newcomers turn up in one of the Keep's loupe cages, and reports start cropping up of new monsters in Atlanta's sewers. </p>
<p>This is basically me experimenting with what would happen were Hawke and Fenris to end up in the Kate Daniels universe. This is set After DA 2 but I'm not sure if/when it takes place in Inquisition terms, and after Kate Daniels book 4 but before 5.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Wolf in a Cage

Hawke was starting to panic. She considered herself strong, if not mildly capable. She’d survived a lot of things and people trying to kill her. But in those moments her magic had always been there for her. There had always been an endless well of power to pull from, it was only if her mind or body got too tired that she had to stop, and then there were always lyrium potions. All of her crafted potions were gone, she'd downed them during the fight that had got her in this mess. That had made her desperate enough to try that new spell she’d been working on. She still had the ingredients to make more desperate, but pain stabbed through her ribs and she couldn't think of anything else. Nothing but that the magic was gone, the well was gone. 

Her eyes started to focus again, the blinding green light fading from her vision. She had felt numb, other than the tearing wound across her ribs, but now she felt hands gripping her shoulders. One was cool and sharp, a hand sheathed in a metal claw. It was Fenris, and he was talking to her, the sound finally slipping through the ringing in her ears. 

"Hawke, wake up, heal yourself! Hawke, you have to wake up!" He wasn't shaking her, just lifting her, holding her. 

"Fenris," she said, "I can't feel the fade." Her voice sounded raspy, and she realized how thirsty she was. 

"What?"

"I can't. Feel. The fade," she said. "I can feel a little magic, but I can't feel... I don't know how else to describe it." Her mind felt clouded, and she didn't know if it was because of blood loss or this disconnection. "Do I sound normal? Is this what being tranquil feels like?"

"You're not tranquil," said Fenris. He started to look around him, and Hawke immediately saw his whole body tense up as he pulled his hands from her arms. Hawke reached for her staff. 

"What is it?" she asked.

"We're in a cage," Fenris said. His voice was tight, and his eyes were darting around, observing the room. "There are five other cages in this room, all identical and spaced evenly apart. The room is empty, one door, closed. Nobody else is here. The only way out is a trapdoor in the roof of our cage, and then through the door.” He paused. “Or through the bars..." Fenris took a deep breath and flexed his fingers. The two of them waited for the trickle of magic that would light his lyrium tattoos. Nothing happened.

"Maybe they just aren't glowing?" asked Hawke. They needed to get out of there soon, but the trapdoor was too far for her to climb in her condition.

Fenris tried the bars, yanking at them with both hands. But both bars were as thick around as a person's wrist, and they did not budge under his struggles. He snarled and tried again, and Hawke saw a faint flicker along his marks. The bars creaked, but then the light died and the creaking stopped.

"So neither of us can do magic," said Hawke. "That was certainly a doozy of a fight." The wound spasmed and she winced.

"That is was," said Fenris, "But I'm going to get you out of here. We'll find a healer, and everything will be fine." It was a prayer, an oath. 

"We have to get out first." Hawke tried to stand, but only managed to hunch herself into a sitting position. Blood pooled on the floor of the cage, and she noticed that not all of it was coming from her.

"What happened to your leg?" she asked.  
"It's fine."

“It’s not fine, Fenris.”

“We need to get out of here.” He sounded angry, but Hawke knew that wasn’t quite it. He was terrified, just like he’d been so many years ago in Kirkwall, when they’d went to see his sister. When his old master had come to claim him. Fenris didn’t like cages. He hadn’t like her being in a cage either, the one time it had happened. He’d have ripped the guards apart, if she and the spy hadn’t already gotten free.

He was starting to pace now too, as though walkingin a frustrated circle would bore a hole through the metal-plated floor. While he was distracted, muttering to himself as he paced, Hawke saw the one door in the room swing open. A small girl stepped in, carrying a mop and bucket. She had a white wire running from her pocket to both ears, and he head was bobbing side to side as she mouthed words to a chant. She was as slim as Merril, and shorter, and wore all black, though her clothes seemed rugged and suitable for chores.  
It only took a second for the girl to notice them, how could she not? The bucket clattered to the floor, spilling soap suds and grey water onto the concrete. Fenris turned to her with a glare that would melt steel.

“What is this place,” he said. “Release us!”

The girl pulled the wire from her ears. There were small balls at the end of each wire, which she shoved deeper into her pocket.

“There wasn’t supossed to be anybody in here,” she said. “Who are you?” She cocked her head to the side and squinted, “It’s hard because the magic’s down but… you’re not shapeshifters.” That’s when the girl noticed the blood. “What happened? How did you get in the loupe cage?” Her voice shook during the question, and Hawke realized the Fenris was scaring the girl, though she was putting up a great effort to seem fine. Before he could say anything more, Hawke leaned and put a hand on his calf. 

“Fenris, let me talk,” she said. Her voice was shaking too, but for entirely different reasons. She was too pale, too tired. She looked to the girl. “We will cooperate, but please, we need a healer.”

“Some strange mage?” said Fenris, “No. We’ll be fine, we just need to—” That’s when Hawke’s eyes started to close and she tipped a bit to the side. Fenris caught her, and turned with panicked eyes towards the girl that had entered. 

“A healer. Please. Quickly.”

The girl left, and Fenris heard her voice echo through whatever hallway was outside. “Derek! Derek, come quick! There are people in the cages. Is Doolittle awake?”


	2. Derek Checks in

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Julie goes to get a doctor, Derek checks to see if the... prisoners? are hostile.

“Derek!” Julie called. They were both working at cleaning some of the bowels of the Keep. Julie was doing it as a job since she was out of school for the winter. She had had the sneaking suspicion that Derek wasn’t actually assigned to cleaning duties, but just came along whenever he had the time. She’d always been happy about that, but she was incredibly grateful for it now. People bleeding in the loupe cages wasn’t a new thing, but these people seemed so off. The man had weird ears, and they’d both been decked out like they were going to a renaissance festival.

“Julie! Is everything okay?” Derek jogged to her. “I’m sorry, I had headphones on, I didn’t hear you at first. What’s wrong?” He paused, then reached to grip her arm. “I smell blood, are you alright?”

“There are two people in the cage room, they’re hurt, I don’t know who they are, but they’re not shapeshifters. One looked really bad, we need to get Doolittle.” Julie had seen people die before. But that woman, slumped over, and the look on the man’s face. He looked so… furiously terrified. The last time she’d seen somebody look like that had been when Curran had brought her Aunt Kate after the Midnight Games.

“Doolittle should be working on the tank right now, he’ll be in there,” said Derek. “I’ll check them out and hold the area. I’m calling Jim too.”

Julie nodded and left.

Derek could hear the voice through the closed door.

“Hawke, you’re stronger than this. You promised me, you have to stay.” There was a moment with no sound but heavy breathing, and then Derek heard the loud clang of metal on metal. Derek pushed the heavy door open, and saw the pair that Julie had left.

The first thing he noticed was a tall, slimly muscled man with white hair, wearing tight black leather armor. He had light tattoos carved down his neck and arms, and was currently using a sword half the size of him in an attempt to pry open the bars.

“What the hell are you doing in here?” Derek asked. That’s when he saw the woman Julie had mentioned, laying on the floor of the cage. Her head had been propped up on a knapsack. The room smelled like blood. Derek felt his skin itching, the smell of blood and the weapon in the other man’s hand urging him to grow claws and fur.

“Are you the healer the girl sent for?” asked the man.

“No,” said Derek, “I’m here to make sure you’re not a threat, and to figure out how you got here.” Jim wouldn’t have just left bodies here without telling anybody, and neither would anybody else in the Pack. Kate might do something like that, but she and Curran had been spending the day together. Not that their days together didn’t sometimes result in bodies, but if that had happened, Curran would have told somebody.

The man threw the sword against the pars of the cage, making a loud clang that rang through the bare room. The man gripped the bars with both hands, his huge green eyes boring into Derek’s.

“She doesn’t have the time to wait for you to get through with questions. If you won’t heal her, let us leave so we can fine somebody else.”

That’s when Derek noticed that the man had pointed ears. And his eyes really were a little too large, and the way he stood, on the balls of his feet, ready for action.

“Julie said you weren’t a shapeshifter.”

“I am no mage,” said the man.

“But are you human?” The magic was low, Julie herself had admitted that that caused some issues with her readings.

The man swung his arms and took a step away from the bars. “Oh, of course. I should have expected as much. I’m not Dalish, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“I’m still not sure what you mean.” Derek’s hackles were rising at the man’s challenging tone. But he was the one in the cage, Derek had the power in the conversation. The man looked disgusted with him.

“I am an elf,” he said. “Does that satisfy you? To make me say it?” The man closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again. “But she is human. She deserves your aid.”

An elf? Derek thought. He wanted to make a joke about Santa Clause, or Tolkien. But despite not wearing shoes, the man in front of him seemed the farthest from frolicking in the woods or in a toyshop. He didn’t want to believe it. But he’d seen gods and demons in the last few years, and nearly died to them several times. And elf, no matter what that meant, wasn’t a huge change.

“I’m sorry,” said Derek. The apology hurt him to say, but these were not members of the pack. His dominance was established, he could wait until there wasn’t a dying woman around to prove it. The man had moved to kneel beside her again, and hardly seemed to be paying him any attention. Derek saw bandages pressed along the woman’s side, drenched red. It was mostly her blood he smelled. The man was so tender looking now, reapplying pressure, brushing the hair off of her face. “I didn’t mean to offend.”

The man didn’t respond, just continued doing what he could for the woman in the cage.

“What are your names?” asked Derek.

“Fenris,” said the man, “and this is Trisana Hawke.”

 


	3. The Good Doctor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Doolittle arrives on the scene.

Fenris wished he was strong enough to tear the bars open. How could the man not know what an elf was? Everybody he had seen dressed so strangely. They could be in the fade, but his markings had worked when Hawke had brought him into the fade before. He didn’t know though. There was a squeaking metallic sound accompanied by footsteps, and soon the girl from before was back in the doorway.

“I brought Doolittle,” she said, then went back to the hall to pull something into the room. It was a metal table the size of a bed, with wheels on the bottom. Along with the table came on old, dark skinned man in a white coat and glasses. When the man saw Fenris and Hawke, he seemed to pale a little bit, and his heavy-lidded eyes opened a bit wider. But the surprise was quickly buried. He spoke with an accent that was unfamiliar to Fenris, full of long, soft vowels.

“Well this is quite the predicament. I’d like to move fast, since it seems your friend there is in trouble. I’m Doctor Doolittle, the resident medmage. What’s your name?”

“Fenris.” Fenris wasn’t sure what to make of this man. The girl had seemed scared, worried. The younger man had been angry and defensive, emotions Fenris was familiar with. But this man was calm, friendly sounding even, though his words were obviously backed by a powerful will.

“Well Fenris, since Julie said you asked for a healer, I take it you know your friend is in bad shape. But I also hope you know that we don’t have much of a reason to trust you right now, seeing as we don’t know who you are or where you came from. I’m sure Derek’s already given you the impression that this is a secure area, where normally the only strangers we’d find would be out to hurt us in some way. This is our home. Understand?’

Fenris nodded. The younger man, presumably Derek, had not become less tense since the doctor entered the room, though Fenris could see him let out a deep breath when the girl moved to touch his arm.

“Now,” continued Doolittle, “To get the girl out, we need to open the cage. I can see how you stand, you’re a killer. So are many of the people in this building. But, and I hope you’re following my logic, we can’t have a strange killer loose in our home.”

“You can’t leave me here,” Fenris said, his eyes darting between the bars of the cage and back down to Hawke. “I won’t let you just take her and go. I have to be with her.”

“I understand that,” said Doolittle. “I’m going to need you to give Derek that sword on your back though, before we open the cage. And if you want to come with us, I’ll need you to be alright with us tying your hands some. Please son, I want to help your friend.”

Fenris wanted to think on it longer. Derek was already grabbing a pair of thick handcuffs off the wall. Fenris’s stomach flipped at the sight of the chains. But it would be this, or letting Hawke leave alone. Or watching her die. He didn’t have the time to think of another way out.

“Fine,” said Fenris, though he glared at the three in the room. Once Hawke was better, she would wake up, and her magic would work. Then nothing would stop their escape.

His sword was heavier than usual. Fenris was sued to having a small strength boost from the lyrium in his skin, but whatever had blocked its activation earlier seemed to still be in effect. He passed the blade through the bars of the cage to Derek while Julie set to unlocking the cage. When she did, she stepped quickly to Derek’s side. The door swung open, and Derek held out the handcuffs.

“Hands,” he said, the single word a growl. His eyes flashed a bright yellow color. Fenris matched his glare, but complied when asked to turn around so that his hand would be chained behind his back.

Doolittle paid little attention to Fenris’s restraint. As soon as the cage door was open, he went to check on Hawke, still on the floor in the cage.

“Did you notice any damage to her neck or spine?” he asked. He did not look up to wait for an answer, but instead seemed to be checking the rest of her body, taking account of every cut and bruise.

“No,” said Fenris. It was a familiar question, Anders had frequently asked the same of others who had come into his hospital. Hopefully this Doctor would turn out more reliable than Anders. “No major damage to her skull either. You should be able to move her.” Fenris wanted to be the one to move her. He didn’t want strangers in charge of Hawke’s safety. But he had no choice.

“I see you know some medicine. Do you know her blood type?”

“Blood type?” Fenris wasn't sure what the man was asking. “She’s human, and a mage. Why should that matter?”

Doolittle didn’t answer, instead gesturing to the girl to get her to help him lift Hawke onto the table bed.

“We’re going to move quickly,” said Doolittle as he secured Hawke. “But you need to stay close to Derek. Okay?” Fenris nodded, and the doctor moved to the head of the table bed and started pushing it. It squeaked loudly, and rattled a little when it moved, but Fenris and the other two had to run to keep up as Doolittle brought Hawke’s bleeding body to his surgery. 


	4. A Pissed off Panther

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Hawke goes into surgery, Jim comes in to question Fenris.

Fenris insisted on being in the surgery room, but Doolittle refused. “There’s a viewing room if you need it, but it’s my job to get this done. I can’t have you distracting me if you want your friend to get out of this okay. And I have a feeling our security officer may want to have a few words with you while I’m working.” As if on cue, Jim came into sight down the hall, a tall, dark, and domineering presence. “Storming” was rarely an apt description for Jim, but that’s what was happening now. Before he got down the hall, Doolittle had rolled Hawke into his workroom and closed the door, leaving Derek, Fenris, and Julie outside.

Jim’s eyes were glowing yellow as he focused in on Derek.

“What in the world is going on here?” he asked, his voice only a few tones from a growl. Derek looked at his feet.

“We found some people, in the loupe cages. One of ‘em was hurt, so Doolittle came in, he’s working on her now.”

“And you brought the other one up here why?” Jim gestured to Fenris, who was standing with unnatural stillness and watching the exchange.

“She was going to die,” said Julie. “Doolittle figured out the best way to help her.”

“Julie, no,” said Derek, who then turned to Jim. “It’s my fault sir. The situation was rushed and I acted rashly.”

“You didn’t though,” said Julie. “Everything’s fine now. Fenris isn’t going to hurt anybody right now, and his friend won’t die.”

It looked like she wanted to say more, but Jim’s glare turned on her and she fell silent.

Jim’s voice was quiet, but seething. “None of you got hurt this time, which is a miracle on its own. But next time you call me first. No questions, no Doolittle. Call me first.”

Derek and Julie nodded and kept their eyes down. Fenris was the only one not cowed by Jim’s scolding.

“So I’m to assume you’re one I’m supposed to talk to before I go back to Hawke,” said Fenris. “I’d prefer if I could be with her now. I will talk to you when I know she’s safe.”

“You,” Jim said, pointing at Fenris, “you are not going anywhere. Not until I figure out who you are and how the hell you got into the Keep. No argument. Do you understand me?”

Fenris ground his teeth. Hawke was inside that room, but he’d do no good to her in handcuffs.

“Ask your questions then. But do it quickly.”

Jim closed his eyes and took a deep breath, rubbing his temples with one hand. “You don’t seem to understand,” said Jim, “I’m the one in charge here. I’m not the most in charge, but he’s out, and I’m head of security. You are not in control of this situation. I am. And I need you to pull your head out of your ass long enough to have this conversation. The room next to the surgery is empty.” Jim pointed at a door next to the one Doolittle had brought Hawke through. “And I’m going to question you there. Derek, Julie, you two wait outside. Derek, you are to come in if I call. Is this understood?”

Fenris was silent, but Derek and Julie voiced their affirmation.

The room had two beds as well as a few chairs and a small table. Jim sat with his back to the door. Fenris had wondered if he would; he hated having a door at his back. The fact that Jim had done so was a sign to Fenris, that this was his home. He wasn’t worried about having his back to a door, because he was confident that he was strong enough to not be caught off guard by anybody coming through it. Jim’s eyes were still softly glowing as he turned the chair backwards and sat with his arms on the back, all without breaking eye contact with Fenris.

“Tell me how you got here,” said Jim. “And no bullshit. I don’t have the time. And if you want to be in to see your friend, you don’t have the time either.”

“Fine,” Fenris said, his voice low and sharp, almost a growl. “As I’m sure you’ve been made aware, if you’re really so adept at “security,” there have been demon outbreaks across Ferelden. Hawke and I had run into a clutch of them, but there were more than we expected. We were losing.” He didn’t really want to think of it. He hated how willing Hawke was to join in the fray, slashing with the blade at the tip of her staff when her magical reserves were low. And that day then had been, and she’d been so close to them, too far away for him to come to her side if she needed him.

Jim’s face was expressionless. He just continued, almost unblinking, to watch as Fenris told his story.

“She said she was going to try something. She drank her last dose of lyrium, and did something magic. I wasn’t watching. Then she reached out to grab me, and everything flashed green. When it was over, I was in your cage and the demons were gone.” Fenris said “cage” like a dirty word, sinking more loathing into the syllable than Jim thought possible.

“Is that enough?” asked Fenris. “Are we done?”

Jim pursed his lips and started to say something, but then the lights in the room flickered. The lights flickered from a yellow to pale blue, though Fenris wasn’t sure what that signified. Not until he felt his skin burning where the lyrium tattoos were carved into his skin. Energy blinded him for a second, and for that second pain rattled through his body. He felt like he would burn away on the surge of magic. Fenris heard Jim stand and move next to him, he heard words but could not understand them. There was nothing by the lyrium and the magic, filling him up until he could taste it on his tongue and feel is flying in his blood.

Then, just as his vision was clearing, he heard a scream through the wall.

He heard _Hawke_ scream through the wall. And his markings glowed bright.  


	5. The Source of the Scream

Jim was used to weird shit. So part of him wasn’t all that surprised with Fenris’s eyes and tattoos started to glow in the middle of his interrogation. But then he made a noise like he’d been tazed, and slumped over in his chair, his hands clasped at his head. Jim stood up and moved towards him.

  
“Hey, no funny business here. You’re not gonna get the jump on me like that.” Fenris didn’t seem to be gearing up for attack. His face was crunched up in pain.

  
Then there was a woman’s scream from the next room over, and Fenris bolted upright. His eyes were glowing so brightly that Jim couldn’t see his pupils.

  
“Out of my way,” said Fenris. Every movement he made seemed pained, but he was doing his best to stand in a threatening posture. That was enough for Jim. Riding high on the magic wave, his skin split and he started to grow claws and thick black fur. He hadn’t had time to strip out of his shirt, which split at the seams from the stress of his warrior form.

  
He reached out for Fenris, but the man was damn fast. Inhumanly so. Jim could have sworn that he had grabbed a hold of Fenris’s arm, but found himself grasping at empty air. Fenris did not turn to attack Jim, instead pushing through to the door where Derek was already turning around to stop any escape. But then Fenris’s form seemed to lessen, like he was a translucent ghost, and he slipped by Derek without a sound. He was dread in his focus.

  
“Doolittle, watch out!” yelled Jim as he ran after the ghostly, glowing man. Fenris solidified just long enough to yank the door of the surgery off its hinges.

  
Inside, a redheaded woman, covered in blood, was sitting up right and taking deep, panicked breaths. Sparks like embers from a fire were curling around a wound in her side, sealing it closed. Doolittle, still holding his tools, was standing a step back.

  
“Hawke!” said Fenris. “Hawke, are you okay?”

  
The woman, Hawke, started to nod, and opened her mouth as if to speak, but before she could, Derek, in his wolfish warrior form, tackled Fenris to the ground. The two were in a deadlock, leaving deep scratches in the tile floor.

  
Jim was also about to dive into the fray, to pull whatever the hell Fenris was off of Derek, but then he felt Doolittle’s hand grab his arm. The woman’s voice was loud and booming in the small hallway, echoing like thunder off the concrete walls.

  
“Stop! Fenris, I’m fine.”

  
“Best stop your boy,” Doolittle said softly to Jim. As he said it, Jim could see that Fenris was already holding back, avoiding openings to attack Derek. Jim took a deep breath and shifted back into a human shape.

  
“Kid, time to back off,” he said, “at least until this is actually sorted out.”

  
“What!?” said Derek, his words garbled and choked, coming out of a wolf’s muzzle, but still understandable. Jim crossed his arms and leveled a glowing stare at the boy. He and Fenris stood up, neither offering to help the other. Fenris moved immediately to the woman’s side. She reached a hand up to touch his shoulder and winced.

  
“Alright,” she said, “I may be less fine than I thought. But I don’t want either of us stuck fighting shapeshifting mages while I’m like this and we don’t know where we are. And the good doctor,” she gestured to Doolittle, “was nothing but amiable to a half dead woman waking up and screaming while he was trying to work.” She started to fall foreward but Fenris caught her shoulders and softly levered her back down onto the gurney.

  
“The magic’s back,” Hawke said, “but I still can’t feel the fade. So watch out for me, okay? Don’t let them fuck with my brain.”

  
“Of course not,” said Fenris. He gently brushed some of hair from her face. “Are you sure you couldn’t-”

  
“No,” said Hawke. “I’m tired. Please let me sleep. We can make a violent and daring escape after.” She took one last look around the room, and the observers who had all moved closer during their conversation. “Is that girl okay?” was the last thing she said before her eyelids fluttered closed. Her breathing was shallow, but steady, and the wound in her side seemed to be at least partially healed.

  
All eyes turned to Julie, who had been standing a step behind Derek. Her pupils seemed unusually dilated, and she had been staring, unblinking at Hawke and Fenris their entire conversation.

  
“Julie?” said Derek in his wolf-voice. He had yet to shift back into a more human form.

  
“They’re just so… different,” she said. “He’s not a real color. It’s kinda like blue, but it’s also not, and it’s whispering…” she trailed off, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. When she reopened her eyes, they looked normal again, though they still latched onto the two newcomers between looking to Derek.

  
“I’m fine,” said Julie, “I promise. It’s just… weird. Normally things look like other things I’ve seen, there’s more of a jumping off point. They’re different.”

  
Fenris tensed up. He didn’t like feeling like he was on display. Danarius’s colleagues had treated him similarly, as if her were a weapon on wall, to be observed. They’d used more sophisticated language than the girl, but feeling all those eyes boring into him and Hawke was more than uncomfortable.

  
“So what is to happen next?” he said to break the silence. The lyrium in his skin wasn’t as painful anymore, though it itched like a healing wound. Everybody looked to Jim.

  
“She’s obviously got some influence on him,” said Jim, “and I for one don’t want him turning translucent again and becoming a security threat. Fenris, do you swear that if we let you stay in the room with her, that you’re not going to go off and cause trouble? I’m still going to post a guard, of course. But if keeping around her will make you behave, we can wait until Curran and Kate show up to go further with this.”

  
“I swear,” said Fenris, his fingers absently brushing Hawke’s arm. “But who exactly is Curran? Or Kate?”

  
Jim smiled like a predator, all teeth and no warmth, “Our dear Beast Lord and his Lady. Welcome to Atlanta.”

 

 


	6. Night Terror

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kate and Curran find a mysterious, teleporting green monster in the sewers under Atlanta.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the absence guys, hope people are still interested in reading!

Kate and Curran were currently knee deep in muck in Atlanta’s sewers. That hadn’t been the plan for the evening, but when a panicked busboy ran up out of the kitchen bleeding and screaming that something was in the basement, they weren’t about to just let it slide. Even if it did mean an end to a rare relaxing evening. 

There had been a flash of green light when they’d made it to the basement, and they’d seen the flash again, through the maintenance hatch. Somehow whatever it was had left without opening the hatch. Which was how Kate found herself regretting wearing her nicer pair of sneakers. Oh well, they weren’t all that much better than her old ones. They could still be bleached. 

“You see anything yet?” she asked, wishing she had brought her sword. Instead all she had were a few knives and her wrist needles. She normally would have brought her sword, but restaurants usually objected to her carrying it in, and she had been with Curran. Any fight they should have run into on their date night would have been over quickly, and she’d have been fine with just her smaller weapons. But this was something else. 

“No,” growled Curran. He’d stripped off his shirt in the basement, and had currently shifted into half form. Short grey fur sheathed his body, and his head was now that of a mish-mashed lion. His jaw didn’t fit well enough together to speak clearly, but it was enough. “I smell something, but I don’t know if it’s the thing,” he gestured to the flow of the sewer, “or this.” 

“Fair point,” said Kate. Then she heard the sound of claws on concrete, and it didn’t sound like rats. Curran heard it too. “This way!” she said, and started jogging down the tunnel. Curran easily kept pace with her. There were deep scratches in the concrete, like something had been scrabbling at it for solid footing, and the trail led to an open manhole with a ladder leading up. As they approached, a scream echoed from the outside into the sewer. Curran climbed out first, with Kate close behind. She didn’t like Curran making himself into a meat wall, but without her sword it would be the better tactical option. 

The creature was hunched over a corpse on the sidewalk. Several people who must have been standing around were now fleeing the scene as fast as they could. And looking at the monster, Kate understood why. It looked like a rouge vampire with elongated, bony limbs and a protruding spine. But it was green and had a tail. Vamps could have odd physical deformations though. Kate sent a pulse out to its mind. If she could hold it still for long enough, Curran would be able to kill it. Simple.

“Shit!” Kate crumpled to the ground as alien screams burst in her head. The language wasn’t familiar, but she still seemed to understand, and her vision swam. She saw Roland, one eyed and controlling an army of necromancers and ancient vampires. She was frozen, helpless, as he tore through Curran, and suddenly the rest of the pack was there too. Everybody she knew was torn to pieces, and blood lapped up through the gutters of Atlanta. The voice was hissing, screaming in her head that she had failed, that she was a monster, that she had let this happen. 

There was a firm grip on her shoulder, and Kate opened her eyes as the voice died down. Her throat was raw, but she didn’t know why, and Curran was there, human, looking at her, shaking her slightly.

“Kate!” he was saying, “Kate, what was it? Talk to me!”

“I’m fine,” she said, and her voice came out a croak. “What the hell was that thing?” 

Curran’s lips formed a momentary snarl before he spoke. “I have no fucking clue. It vanished right after you fell.” 

“It wasn’t a vampire,” Kate said before he could ask. She knew it was her fault the thing had gotten away, but her head hurt too much for her to feel guilty yet. “I prodded its mind, and it definitely had one, not like a vamp.”

“Don’t blame yourself,” Curran said. “I would have chased it, but I think it did something to me too.” He pulled her up to standing, and Kate felt a slight tremor in his hands. 

“It won’t happen again,” she said, “I just wasn’t expecting it. I’d be ready next time.”

“Me too,” he said, and Kate wondered what he had seen. “Should we report it?”

“I don’t want to wait around here and wait for somebody to come to fill out paperwork,” he said. “I’ll get Jim to fill out a report once we get back to the Keep.”

“Shame we didn’t finish eating.”

Curran growled, and Kate smiled. 

“Let’s stop by my place first,” she said. “I’ve got leftovers, and I want my sword.”

He nodded and started walking. 

 

At the front gate of the shapeshifter Keep, the guard didn’t just nod and let them by. “Jim’s got something big down in the holding cells,” said the guard, a lithe looking rat woman eating a bag of Doritos. “He said it was under control, but he needs your ruling. Didn’t say anything else, apparently it was classified. He wants you too,” she said, nodding at Kate. “The Lord and the Lady, as soon as possible.”

“Thanks Vera,” said Curran. She nodded and buzzed them through. 

“What do you think that was all about?” asked Kate. She still felt uncomfortable being Curran’s “mate.” A lot of the other shapeshifters still didn’t trust her, but now they didn’t even say so to her face. It made her squirm. 

“Nothing good,” said Curran. “You don’t have to say routine maintenance exams are under control.”

“True.” Kate sighed. “That means we definitely don’t have time for a shower.”

“Nope,” he said.

She groaned. 

“Hey,” said Curran, “don’t be like that. You might get to use your sword on something after all.”

Kate shoved him, though the brick wall of a man didn’t budge. “Hey, you’re the one who won’t be able to eat anything.” Her leftovers hadn't been enough, she knew it. 

He frowned at that. “Let’s get it over with then.”


	7. They Meet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Curran and Kate come to respond to Jim's call, to meet Fenris and Hawke in the infirmary.

Kate and Curran met Derek in the hall. He seemed irritated, but not in a panic, so whatever this was couldn’t be that bad. 

“So what was so important?” Curran asked.

“What did you two get into?” asked Derek, looking at their sewer-stained clothes, “I thought you went out for Chinese.”

“We did,” said Kate. “There was a distraction.” 

Derek shrugged and knocked on the door. “Hey, they’re here!”

The door swung open to reveal Doctor Doolittle. He gave a small bow to the two of them and gestured them inside.

“Ah good, you’ve made it. Are either or you two hurt? You look like you’ve been dragged through a bog.”

“Worse,” said Kate, and she followed Curran in.

There were three others in the room. Jim, of course, standing, with a notepad and pen in his hands. If he’d been part cat, the hair on the back of his neck would be standing up. Kate moved her attention to the source of his irritation. Sitting on a propped up hospital bed was a round-faced woman about her age with fiery red hair that was pulled back in a slightly mangled bun. There was a bag of saline hooked up to one of her arms through an IV. Next to her, sitting on a stool by the bed, was a man in black leather armor. His hair was white, but his eyebrows were dark. Kate wondered if he bleached it. There were always people in the city trying to keep up with the “bad boy” hype, and he fit the image to a t. He had pointed ears too, maybe surgery? 

“Hello,” said the woman on the bed, with intense friendliness. “So you must be who we’ve been waiting for. I guess I know now we’re not in Orlais.” She smiled at that, like it was a joke. “Jim here hasn’t been incredibly helpful with helping us figure out where we’ve landed.”

The man in black armor tensed at their arrival and was studying both of them intently. 

“Jim?” asked Curran. He wouldn’t seem angry to the casual observer, but Kate could hear it in his voice. It was how he sounded when he was trying to count to one-hundred in his head to calm down. 

“They were in the cages, we don’t know how they got here. This is Trisana Hawke and Fenris, who refuses to provide a last name. Trisana,”

“Hawke,” interrupted the woman. “Trisana makes me sound posh, and Tris makes me sound like a kid. I’ve been Hawke for a decade.” She was polite, even jovial in her statement. So very unlike the man next to her, she seemed perfectly carefree. That made Kate more nervous than the armored man had. Anybody with the will to stand up to Jim on a bad day had seen some shit. 

The counting to one-hundred thing obviously wasn’t working for Curran, and he gripped Jim’s shoulder, leading him to a distant corner of the room. They talked softly about what had transpired before Curran’s arrival. Kate half listened, but left them to it. 

“So,” Kate said, moving closer to the pair on the bed. The man, Fenris, tensed up at her approach, but Hawke reached out and laid her hand in his, which seemed to settle his nerves. Interesting. “What is Orlais? Why do you not think I’m from there?” She wanted to get a better read on them, and obviously whatever Jim was doing wasn’t working. She wasn’t always the friendliest person, but these seemed like the sort of people she usually got along with. Or got in fights with. Either way she would get information quickly.

“Well,” said Hawke, “Jim referred to you two as Lord and Lady. Now, maybe you’re nobility and maybe you aren’t. But no commoner in Orlais would dare go by noble titles. And no nobility would greet even the most despised of guests looking like that. Nor would they set foot in a sewer in the first place. Tevinter is the same.”

“Ah, so now I understand. I’m too gross to be from fantasyland.”

“Exactly.” Kate decided she liked the woman. She didn’t often meet those who responded so well to her sarcasm. 

“So where are you from, really?” asked Kate. 

Fenris sighed, “we’ve been through this.”

“I haven’t,” said Hawke. At Kate’s confusion, Hawke went on. “I was asleep until a few minutes ago. Jim was going to interrogate us, but then he got the call that you two were at the gates, and figured he’d wait until you came down.”

Kate heard Curran and Jim finish talking and head over. Doolittle was still in the room, but hovering.

“So,” said Curran, “Jim says you came here by accident, but he hasn’t gotten anything more coherent out of you.”

“You’re the ones that aren’t saying anything coherent,” said Fenris. Kate saw Hawke squeeze his hand again.

“Fenris isn’t a mage,” said Hawke. “He certainly knows more than me on a variety of subjects, but in this I think he might have been lacking. We were fighting demons, and failing. As a last ditch effort I attempted a spell that I knew I shouldn’t have. I knew it would need more work, and I’d been meaning to talk to a few experts about it to get it right, but at the time I couldn’t think of anything else. It was supposed to be a bolthole, a one way trip for me and my allies away from danger. However, since this place doesn’t seem like anything I’ve ever seen before, I can only assume that it took Fenris and I quite a bit farther from home than I had intended.”

Fenris turned to face her. “Your spell did this?”

She nodded, and for the first time Kate saw her look nervous, regretful. “I’m sorry. There hasn’t really been an appropriate time to mention it.”

“Look,” said Curran, “I think we’ll need a little more detail on this.”

“Of course,” said Hawke. 

“But simply put,” continued Curran, “you’re from, what, another world? Is that even possible?”

Hawke shrugged. “I wouldn’t have thought so. But I’ve seen lots of things I didn’t think were possible, so I’ve learned not to harp on that so much.”

Curran didn’t look happy with that answer, and Kate reached out to brush his arm, realizing only after the action the similarity between it and the hand holding on the bed.


	8. Something to Read

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Curran and Kate go to clean up while the others rest.

Before the conversation could move further, Kate held up one hand. “Alright, wait. This is starting to sound like a conversation that’s going to go on for a long time, and if so I want to be cleaned up first. Jim, you were doing fine with them until we showed up, do you mind waiting a bit more?”

Jim’s face was expressionless, but his eyes flashed when he spoke. “Technically no. But make it fast, both of you.”  
“I’ve got soup on down the hall,” said Doolittle, “so there’ll be food when you come back.” 

Curran seemed like he wanted to stay, but Kate kept her hand firmly on his arm. “This will go better if you’ve had a hot shower to smooth yourself out, Curran. Come on.” They let themselves out.

***

Hawke decided that she liked the Lord and Lady. Curran seemed a bit hotheaded, but no more than she was used to, and Kate had a sense of humor. She wasn’t sure what to say to Fenris now though. She didn’t like being held captive, but it terrified him, and looking at the man now, he bore striking resemblance to the fresh runaway she’d met so many years ago. And that frightened her.

“I’m so sorry,” she said, as meaningfully as she could. “It was supposed to take us somewhere else there. Over the next hill, that sort of thing. And it didn’t, so we’re here. I messed up.” 

Both of his hands grasped hers tightly. Their keepers had made him take off the clawed gauntlet he usually wore, and his fingers wove through hers. 

“I thought you would die,” he said. “And then, once we were here and you weren’t healing, I still thought you would die. But you didn’t. Please don’t apologize for that.” He was speaking softly, but his voice sounded ragged. 

“I don’t think they intend to hold us captive forever,” she said. “We just showed up in the wrong place at the wrong time. Once they see we’re not a threat, they’ll let us go.”

Fenris nodded, and Hawke wasn’t sure he really believed her. Before she could say anything more, Dr. Doolittle had appeared with two glasses of a deep brown drink. 

“Sweet tea,” he said. “You, for some reason, seem to have recovered to near full force at an unprecedented rate, but getting a little sugar and water in you won’t hurt matters.” 

Hawke took one of the offered drinks. Fenris did not.

“Look,” said Doolittle, “I also came over to say that you might as well wait before talking out daring escape plans. We’re going to try to untie some of the knots of mystery your presence has caused, but that can’t happen until Kate and Curran come back. Until then you’d best find some other diversion. You speak our language. Maybe you can read it.” He nodded his head to a small stack of books under the bedside table. “That’s all nice and non confidential.” He held out the second glass to Fenris. “I should also note that, as a doctor, I’ve taken my oaths. I took good care of your girl, and I have no interest in poisoning either of you.”

Hawke took a sip of the liquid. It tasted like tea, but cold. But much better than when her own mugs simply cooled through neglect and she choked them down. It was also overpoweringly sweet.

“What do you call this?” she asked, swirling the drink a little and watching the ice in it clink.

“It’s iced sweet tea,” said Doolittle. “Tea, sugar, and water, nothing else.”

“I’ve seen something like it before,” said Fenris. “It was a popular drink for a time in Tevinter. Mages use spells to chill it.” He still did not take the glass offered, and his tone was sour enough for Doolittle not to push further. Hawke put hers down and didn’t reach for it again. 

“Books,” she said. “Let’s look at the books. Fenris, are there any down there that look good to you?” She remembered when she’d taught him to read, not so many years ago. He’d picked the skill up quickly, and had soon surpassed her. Though Hawke enjoyed stories, she enjoyed hearing them aloud at a tavern more than reading them herself. She would read if bored, but she had other pastimes. Fenris, on the other hand, was ravenous. He’d chewed through the shelves at her home in less than two years, particularly interested in histories and fiction, though he’d never admit the latter to anybody but her. If some formal affair got too stuffy, he would sneak away to read in the libraries. And sometimes, Hawke would follow him up there. Even though he didn’t need to practice any more, she still loved when he read aloud to her, his voice smooth and soft.

“What is a gun?” asked Fenris as he looked through the spines. “Most of these are Gun Manuals.”

“Oh,” Doolittle said, “Sorry about that. The last person down here, well, his girlfriend likes guns and she was looking after him, so she must have brought some of her own things.”

Fenris pulled out a short, fat book, and arched an eyebrow at the cover. It had a man dressed like a pirate with impeccably large and glistening muscles pulling a slender young woman with golden hair to him. 

“That would also be hers,” said Doolittle. The book reminded Hawke of a few things she’d seen Varric put out over the years, though even his fictional version of Isabella had never looked so greased up on one of his covers. 

Fenris pulled another book out, flipping it over to read the words on the back. 

“The Princess Bride,” he said. 

“Now that one,” said Doolittle, “that’s a classic. How does it go? Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles…”

Fenris held the book a little longer, then nodded and moved back to his seat on the bed next to Hawke.

“Sounds like a regular Tuesday,” she said, while nestling her head gently on Fenris’s shoulder. She felt the tension in him lessen as he opened up the book and began to read.


End file.
